Sydney Avey's Blog, page 22

Iowa, Part III–Transmedia Storytelling

Susan Taylor Chehak introduced Transmedia Storytelling during the Iowa Summer Writing Festival’s Eleventh Hour series. She prefaced her presentation with general comments:

We have stories in our DNA
Stories organize the events of our lives
We fabricate stories according to our world view

To my mind, though, she may have slipped off the cliff with statements like:

Storytelling gives meaning to the world
Stories are mental imprints that mold perceptions ( I think she means that literally)

Some definit...

365 Short Stories (Americana)—Week Thirty-Three

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“… in the first darkness of the night, a freight train rumbled into the station. When the engine was switching cars on to the side-track, Johnny crept along the side of the train. He pulled open the side-door of an empty box-car and awkwardly and laboriously climbed in. He closed the door. The engine whistled. Johnny was lying down, and in the darkness he smiled.” Jack London

Reading Americana this week: The Sierra Repertory Theater announced they will perform A Murder, A Mystery, and a Marria...

Be Still My Monkey Mind

© Frans Sluijs | Dreamstime

The urban dictionary defines monkey mind as roaming attention that constantly seeks new objects. I employ my monkey mind to serve creativity. Disparate thoughts capture my attention and sometimes the Muse shows up and connects them. More often though, my monkey turns feisty, grabs at every attractive email, Facebook and Twitter link, shakes it, tastes it, and tosses it aside until I am spent. That’s why I decided to do an e-Fast.

I turned off my cell phone and tablet...

365 Short Stories (Amusing)—Week Thirty-Two

The French classicists have a way of recognizing the amusing qualities in most any situation. I left my heart in Paris, so I am reading French stories this week.

Week Thirty-Two

“Putois,” by Anatole France, 50 Great Short Stories Edited by Milton Crane

Great stories have a timeless quality. France reflects on the nature of existence in this tale of Putois, “a being local and mythical.” We had such a being when I was in high school. He ran for class president and won. He graduated with us. No one...

Iowa Part ll

Will this day never end?!

I looked forward to the Eleventh Hour lectures every day. I called them the Elevenses because each presentation refreshed me, like an English morning cuppa.

Amber Dermont lectured on endings. She made the point that we must consider the structure—where does my story conclude?—and the existential question—when is my story done and how does it end? Addressing the existential, “writerly” stories wrap up the narrative in a satisfying conclusion for you, but “readerly” stor...

365 Short Stories (Telling Details)—Week Thirty-One

© Visionair | Dreamstime Stock Photos

Telling details advance our understanding of a character. Watch for these road signs. They often signal the trouble ahead.

Week Thirty-One

“And Not As a Stranger,” by Lucy Warner, Image, Number 76

This is the first of two stories in Image about women who have suffered sexual abuse. The details give us a clue about why women don’t voice outrage.

Why, why? She wept to herself, her docility a kind of terror which immobilized her and froze the blood in her veins,...

Iowa, Part I

Prairie Lights Book Store
As we lose independent bookstores, we lose community.

I journeyed to the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in July to study on the University of Iowa campus—incubator of the workshop method of teaching writing that hatched MFA programs across the US. Immersed in lectures, critique sessions and readings, with time to wander beautiful Iowa City, hang out at Prairie Lights Bookstore and graze at the Bread Market, it was a perfect week.

Reflections

If you don’t have the magic com...

365 Short Stories (Titles)—Week Thirty

As a story unfolds, I often go back to the title to help me navigate the theme and significance of events. A good title promises that we will know more at the end than we did when we started.

“Afternoons in the Museum of Childhood,” Damage Control, by Amber Dermont

Amber read this story at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City. I was privileged to attend. The story begins with a kidnapping that recalls a famous case reported in the news. It ends with the young teen, recently restored to her par...

Feast in Paris

Paris is a feast for the eyes, the stomach and the soul. I go to Paris to walk, drink cafe au lait,and breathe in beauty.

Author Edward Rutherfurd says that Paris is an international city that belongs to the world. I think that is because so much happens in Paris by design.The city is laid out to accommodate people, at work and at leisure. Zip underground to your destination and you have time pop into a museum or walk in a public garden. It’s all so accessible. Stroll through the arrondissemen...

365 Short Stories (Endings)—Week Twenty-nine

A juicy ending!

Authors Mark Poirier and Amber Dermont lectured at the Iowa Summer Writers Festivallast week on Happy Endings. Satisfying endings recall the beginning and add a new insight; leave us with a feeling; surprise us without implausibility; shock us without artifice. This week, I’m paying attention to endings.

“Reunion,” by John Cheever

In our Short Story workshop, Andrew Porter asked us to watch for revealing details in this story. “The last time I saw my father…” are the first and la...